Kid's Clothes Week - August 2016

I love Kid's Clothes Week, and look forward to each season. This time the theme is Celebration. Very loosely interpreted this t-shirt celebrates the holiday and road tripping.  

Show me an almost seven year old not asking "Are we there yet?" on a long road trip. I made a deal with my son - whenever he wears this shirt, he's not allowed to ask me "Are we there yet?" and also, that he's to wear this shirt on every road trip. He thinks it is a fun shirt, so it is a win win (I hope)

The fabric and pattern is from Peek-A-Boo Patternshop - I ordered the fabric a couple of weeks ago, and thanks to Aramex Global Shopper and their handy discount code, the shipping from New York to my doorstep in Polokwane was just R100! Can't beat that.

Making a Grand Slam T-shirt is quick and easy - the only thing I noticed is that the front neckline is a bit high, I trimmed an inch, and will make that a permanent change whenever I make more t-shirts for my children.

Stripey Snap Pajamas

I started this project early March, but only finished it last night.

Such a satisfying make - the snap placket was the best part, I love adding snaps to children's clothing. I bought a few colours KAM snaps and pliers last year, and have been using it for many projects, it was definitely worth buying.  I struggled a bit lining up the stripes of the pjs, even though I used the Bernina's walking foot.

It is the  Lullaby Line Snap pajamas from Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop.  These PAB patterns have become a staple here. I love that it is affordable,  covers many sized in one pattern purchase and that the clothes I make using PAB patterns are always a hit with the children. With the current $/ZAR exchange rate, I really must limit myself to one pattern a month, perhaps 2 if the pattern I want is discounted by 50% on a Thursday.

The fabric is a thin cotton knit that I bought on a facebook fabric selling page - I love that with a metre of fabric and less than R200, I can make something fantastic for my children. Win win - I need to sew to relax and they get new clothes, not made in Bangladesh or China, but made at home by their mom. Happy guilt free quality clothes.

The Snap pajamas is for sizes preemie to 4T, but I think it can easily be modified to fit bigger sizes. I plan to make on for E, a slim almost 7 year old, by just lengthening the body, legs and sleeves of the pattern. Should get that done soon, winter is here - we had a couple of very cold days the past week.

Cloud 9 Infinity Scarf

Missing Gerrit today, no more or less than any other day since he died, yet today is significant, we survived yet another year without him.  Today is 4 years since he died.  Thankful that Edward and Helena is still here with us, bringing love and light into our lives.

When Gerrit was a born, our nickname for him was BabiWabi. During 2010/2011, I made and sell shwehswe dresses, using the BabiWabi name on the labels. I still have a few of the labels left over, and now use them only for very special projects, or things I make for myself. This scarf is worthy of a label.

For this infinity scarf, I used a small piece of amazing Cactus print from Cloud9 Fabrics and light blue cotton from the local fabric store.

Today is the first day that is cold enough to be needing a scarf, and this one is perfect.

Shweshwe Star Student Backpack

Returning to work, my son starting Grade 1, daughter starting nursery, all of this made it very hard to find any time to sew this year.  

H on the run, loving her new backpack

I did however, have a  fun Saturday morning making the  Star Student Backpack - another superb pattern by Amy Hindman from Peek-a-Boo Pattern shop . I've bough many peek-a-boo patterns already, and have at least ten more waiting in my wishlist. I love the patterns -  clothes looks great when finished, fits, and have not had a minute of trouble using it.  A bonus is that a pattern is sold at 50% discount every Thursday, or a new pattern is released and offered at a discounted price. With the current Rand / $ exchange rate, this sure helps.

Pattern & supplies ready

I chose blue and yellow, as I wanted the bag to bright and sunny. I used some Da Gama Shweshwe I have had for at least 6 years, so the bag didn't cost much to make. The pattern calls for 1/2 yard quilt batting or thin foam for back and strap padding - Pellon Flex Foam  will be perfect for stabilizing the back, and the next bag I make I will definitely be using Fles Foam.

I added mustard piping to the bag 

Will be making more of these soon.

My 2015 makes (part 1)

I decided to update more frequently to document all my projects.  I'm aiming for at least one post a month.

To start off, here is a summary of most of the things I made last year - mostly dresses for Helena, this year Edward will be getting more shorts and trousers. I also made a quilt for the first time ever - did everything myself, piecing the top and the actual quilting. The pattern is called Shortcake Quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew. It took weeks to finish,  and on 31 December 2015 I sewed the last bit of binding. Not sure if I will tackle such a large quilt again, it was hard to do the quilting. I started doing straight line stitching,  but found out later that it is so much faster to do free motion quilting. 


There are a few patterns that I keep going back to, as they work so well and the finished item is almost always the way I imagined it.  

Superhelden Skater Dress

The Little Girls' Skater Dress   by Amanda  of Kitschy Coo - one of my favourite patterns, quick and easy, guaranteed smile from the recipient. I made 5 skater dresses within a day of 2, and plan to make loads more. I used knit fabric I bought locally and also some treasured Lillestof Superhelden I bought months earlier. 








Another keeper is the  Geranium Dress by Rae Hoekstra - I made quite a few of those. This is something I do often - find a pattern that works and then make 6 or 7 in a row. Suppose this is acceptable, since the fabric and colour combinations are never the same.

Chambray and printed viscose

Top left - Octopus fabric from Jo-Ann Stores,  bottom left - Cherries and gingham quilting cotton , right - some shirting fabric I've had since the nineties (!)

In between I made a few t-shirts, shorts and trousers - this is a pair of Morocco Tuxedo Pants  with welt pockets and french seams - a lot of effort but worth the time. I must sew more boys clothes in 2016! 

Cotton twill Morocco Tuxedo Pants

Looking forward to lots of sewing in 2016 - I am super excited about Kids' Clothes Week, which is happening from 22 - 28 February 2016.

Thanks for dropping in!

Here we go

So today is 22 months since my son, my firstborn died. He was just 4 years old. Since then I've been to hell and back, more than a few times, and I know that it will be that way for the rest of my life. There are so many blogs detailing the nature of this "life" after the death of a child, so I won't write much about that. I plan to try and get some sort of life going for my surviving children, myself and my husband.  

I've always enjoyed sewing as a hobby, and for a brief few months in 2011 I even made and sold children's dresses. Recently,  I've wanted to start sewing again. For a long long time I just could not.

My little girl, who is almost 8 months old now, will shortly have many fabulous, colourful outfits. Tonight I made green pants - I was delighted to find fantastic fabric in a local quilt store. All 100% cotton, beautiful prints and colours and so amazingly soft - just right for Helena.

The main fabric I used is "Christmastime" by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched for Henry Glass & Co, Inc. What a long name for pretty stars on green fabric. The contrast is from Da Gama Fabrics - from their Coral Tree Fabrics quilting collection - it is called the Rain Drops Collection, and the colour is most likely Savannah Green.

That was Friday (yesterday)...

Today (Saturday) my sister came to visit and help - we made 4 Dino tails for toddlers and a set of dragon wings for Edward.